It's The Great Pumpkin, Mr Mario!
by Galadriadhar
Summary: It's Halloween! And with that comes the bounty of trick-or-treaters and their crazy ideas. When Mario gets sucked into a child's mission, he sees something that he will remember for the rest of his life.


_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK._ The sound came from the front door of the Mario Brothers' home.

"There's the door again," Luigi said, looking up from his book. It was titled _The Headless Toad, and Other Scary Tales._ "Do you want to get it, bro?"

"Sure," Mario said, putting down his book. His book was called _The Missing Plate of Pasta, and Other Scary Tales. _"Let-a me grab the candy-a." He picked up a bowl of wrapped mushroom-shaped chocolates. Making his way across the cluttered floor, he finally made it to the door, which he promptly opened.

Mario was met with a resounding chorus of "Trick or Treat!" There on the porch stood an assortment of Toad children holding plastic pumpkins, dressed up as Boos, Bandits, and other creatures. There were also a few real Boos holding bags bulging with candy.

"Hello, Mr Mario!" the children chanted. "May we please have some candy?"

Mario chuckled, remembering the days when he was a young one and would walk the streets of Brooklyn, begging homeowners for a morsel of sweetness. "Sure thing-a, little ones!" Mario grabbed handfuls of chocolates and put them in each kid's candy holder. "And I've got-a special thing-a for each of-a you." He reached into the house and grabbed a handful of papers, each with two signatures on it. Separating the papers from each other, he placed one paper in each kid's bag. One Toad child picked his out of his bag and looked at it.

"What's this?" he asked.

"That is-a autograph, signed-a by me-a and-a Luigi!" Mario explained.

"Awesome!" the kids yelled. "Thanks, Mr Mario!"

"You're-a welcome, kids-a." Mario waved to the kids as they all left, except one. The little Toad kid was looking in his pumpkin sadly. "What's-a the matter, Charlus?" Mario questioned.

"I gots a rock again," Charlus moaned. Mario leaned over and looked in Charlus's pumpkin. Sure enough, there was no sign of a mushroom chocolate, only black rocks that looked a bit like coal.

"That won't-a do," Mario said. "Here, take-a some more chocolate-a." Mario dumped some more chocolate into Charlus's pumpkin, and watched as it turned into rock halfway into the pumpkin. "Hmm." Mario thought for a bit, then smiled. "Let-a me-a take your pumpkin and give-a you a new bag! Here," Mario said, handing Charlus a bag from the sleeve hanging on the door. He then dumped the rocks into the bag, and was overjoyed to see them turn back into candy on the way into the bag. Charlus was ecstatic.

"Thanks, Mr Mario!" Charlus made to leave, then turned back around to face Mario. "Mr Mario, have yous heard of the Great Pumpkin?"

"What-a is-a the Great Pumpkin-a? And why-a do you-a ask?" Mario asked.

"The Great Pumpkin is the being of Halloween. He rises from the most sincere pumpkin patch every year. Then he gives candy to the good boys and girls. I'm just trying to find someone who believes in the Great Pumpkin."

"Why-a?"

"I want to have someone sit in the pumpkin patch with me tonight. I'm too scared to do it alone."

"I'll-a sit with you-a, Charlus. Let me-a grab my jacket-a." Mario went back into the house and grabbed the red jacket hanging on the wall hooks. "Hey-a, Luigi. I'm-a going to-a be gone-a while. Keep an eye-a on the house-a."

"Sure," Luigi said, waving in Mario's direction. He continued reading his book.

Mario walked back to the door and shut it behind him. He put on the jacket and gestured to Charlus to lead the way. Charlus led Mario out of the yard and into Toad Town. They passed many kids trick-or-treating, and quite a few waved to Mario. He waved back and kept following Charlus.

"Here we are," Charlus proclaimed, entering the pumpkin patch south of Toad Town.

"What-a do we-a do now?" Mario asked.

"We wait." Charlus sat down and watched the patch intently. Mario sat beside him and watched as well.

* * *

Some time later, Mario was still watching, but Charlus had fallen asleep. Mario was about to pick him up to take him home when something rustled in the patch. It sounded too big to be any normal creature. Mario nudged Charlus and whispered, "There's-a something in-a the patch."

Charlus woke up with a start and looked wildly around. When he saw Mario, he calmed down. "What?" he whispered. Mario put a finger to his lips and pointed to a rising shadow in the patch. Charlus silently gasped.

The shadow became solid, and took on a definite shape. It looked like a pumpkin had sprouted thin arms and legs. Charlus began jumping up and down in excitement. The shadow seemed to look around, then jumped into the air and began gliding off. It went into a patch of moonlight and Mario could see it clearly. Like he had thought, it was a pumpkin with spindly arms and thin legs. But seeing it in the light was so much different than seeing it as a shadow. The thing radiated a majesty one would associate with Santa Claus.

"This truly is the being of Halloween," Mario whispered.

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Mr Mario!" Charlus exclaimed.

A/N: In my opinion, everyone who writes fanfiction needs a Christmas or other holiday fic, a Halloween fic, and a Thanksgiving fic. This is my Halloween fic, as you can see. It was quite fun to write, and I enjoyed writing Charlus. He was intended to be a mix between Charlie Brown and Linus, hence the name.

Thanks for reading!


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